Philippe Coutinho has hailed his Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers as a “great manager”.

The Northern Irishman snapped up the Brazil international in a £8.5m deal from Inter Milan in January 2013, before he signed striker Daniel Sturridge in a £12m transfer in the same window.

Coutinho has blossomed into a key player at Anfield over the past 18 months, underlining his potential this season with a series of spectacular strikes, helping to take his tally to four Premier League goals.

The 22-year-old midfielder, who has scored five times in 42 appearances in all competitions this term, singled out the Liverpool manager’s positive influence on his career.

“Brendan is a great manager, his ideas are very good and since the beginning he trusted me to develop my work,” Coutinho told The Express.

“He gave me a good run of games. He believed in me. This is how he behaves with everybody. But whenever there is a more important match, he is open for a talk. He is always after improving his team, and consequently improving his players.”

Coutinho has scored 12 goals in 70 games in all competitions following his switch to Liverpool from 2010 Champions League winners Inter Milan two years ago.